A recent study published in The Lancet has conducted a comparative analysis of cancer mortality rates between the United States and Dalian city in Liaoning province, China. The research utilized Dalian cancer registry data from 2015 to 2020, revealing insights into age-standardized 5-year survival rates for all cancer patients, which were lower in Dalian at 49.9% compared to the US rate of 67.9%. However, when examining individual cancer types, Dalian patients exhibited better survival rates for lung, bladder, and cervical cancers.
International Collaboration on Cancer Research
The study was a collaborative effort by a global team of researchers from prestigious institutions, including the National Cancer Center attached to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, the School of Public Policy and Administration at Chongqing University, the US Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Dalian Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Methodology and Findings
Researchers employed linear models to model age-standardized 5-year relative survival and quantify the excess hazard ratio (EHR) of death for all cancers and 20 individual types. These findings were then compared with data from 17 US cancer registries. The study also analyzed stage-specific survival for five major cancers by region.
Comparative Analysis of Cancer Cases
The study encompassed 11,046 cases from Dalian, China, and 312,069 cases from the US. The five most common cancers in Dalian were lung, colorectal, thyroid, female breast, and stomach cancer, accounting for 61.4% of all patients. In contrast, these cancer types made up only 41.6% of US patients. While most cancer patients were diagnosed at similar ages in China and the US, there were exceptions, such as prostate cancer patients in Dalian who were identified on average at 75.9 years, compared to 66.2 years in the US.
Survival Rate Differences
For all cancer types combined, the age-standardized 5-year survival rate was 18.0% lower for patients in Dalian at 49.9% versus the US at 67.9%. China had lower age-standardized 5-year relative survival rates than the US for various cancers, including female breast cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, oral cavity and pharynx cancer, brain cancer, gallbladder cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer, with differences ranging from 2.3% to 40.2%. However, Dalian patients had higher survival rates for bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and lung cancer compared to the US, with absolute differences of 20.0%, 4.6%, and 14.2%, respectively.-Fineline Info & Tech
